NBA referees left the hardwood and hit the pavement on Thursday, showing unity with a player walkout against police brutality in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting in Wisconsin.
Referees living and working inside the NBA bubble near Orlando donned black T-shirts with the words “Everybody Vs. Racism,” outside their Disney hotels.
Their protest comes after NBA playoff games were postponed Wednesday. With the entire NBA season now hanging in the balance, the league’s Board of Governors is scheduled to meet on Thursday.
The referees union said in a statement Thursday that its members were marching “against racism and grieve for the black lives taken too soon.”
“Join us as we unite in the bubble, and around the world, to fight injustice and police brutality,” the union said.
The show of support for players comes despite a their fraught relationship between the two groups over the past several years.
Veteran referee Marc Davis told NBA TV that the march, which included dozens of other NBA staffers, stopped in on a players meeting.
“We basically said to them, ‘We’re here and we support you. We’re here and we support you and protect your right to speak your truth,’ ” Davis said.
The referee added, “We, as the older generation, are going to have to be an agent of change, and we think our group really represents that.”
Three Major League Baseball games, three WNBA contests and five Major League Soccer matches were also called off Wednesday in light of the upheaval over Blake’s shooting.
And on the gridiron on Thursday, the Indianapolis Colts, Washington Football Team, Green Bay Packers and New York Jets all called off practice in support of ongoing protests.
The Wednesday sports walkouts were led by the Milwaukee Bucks, who normally play their home games at Fiserv Forum, almost 40 miles south of where Blake was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha police officer on Sunday, officials said.
Viral video footage of the confrontation appeared to show Blake walking away from police before an officer, identified as seven-year veteran Rusten Sheskey, opened fire from behind at close range.
Blake is currently paralyzed from the waist down from the shooting, family members and lawyers said.
This is a developing story, please refresh here for updates.
